What do The Muppet Movie and the Canterbury Tales have in common?
Thank you for asking! I’ve been comparing the two for a while now and am glad to have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
Let’s begin with the obvious.
Both stories are about a journey. In The Muppet Movie, Kermit the Frog journeys from the swamp to Hollywood. The pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales journey from Tabard Inn in Southwark to the Canterbury Cathedral in London.
Each story includes a huge cast of characters. The Muppet Movie features 24 main muppets, 8 background muppets, 10 human characters, and an additional 15 famous special guests for a grand total of 57 main-ish characters. The grand finale, a rousing rendition of The Rainbow Connection, includes over 100 human and muppet performers.
The Canterbury Tales features 30 pilgrims, including Harry Bailley, proprietor of the Tabard Inn. Harry proposes that each pilgrim share 2 stories on the journey from the Tabard Inn to Canterbury Cathedral, and 2 stories on the way back. The pilgrim who tells the best story will earn a meal and a night at his inn.
Kermit the Frog gains an entourage of muppets and humans as he treks across America from the swamp to Hollywood. He believes that every character has a talent that guarantees their success in Tinseltown.
The colorful characters of The Canterbury Tales and The Muppet Movie represent people from all walks of life. My favorite storyteller of The Canterbury Tales is the Wife of Bath, who is also known as the loathly lady. Kermit, of course, is my favorite muppet, which is a source of contention with Miss Piggy, who suffocatingly adores Kermit as well as herself.
But I digress. Just as Harry Bailley manages the pilgrims through their storytelling, Kermit leads his entourage through traps and turns that are mostly meant to ensare him for his scrawny frog legs. We never learn who earns the prize offered by Harry Bailley because Geoffrey Chaucer died before finishing his ambitious project of writing 120 stories. He managed to pen 24 colorful narratives that illustrate medieval lives. Kermit and his friends (spoiler alert) do reach Hollywood, but destroy the studio in which they are to record their performances.
The lesson from the pilgrims and the performers is to try. Just try to do something – tell a story, sing, dance. Hunt for frog legs. Whatever. Try something that will take you on a journey.
Anyway, that’s how this ordinary girls sums up these two stories.
The Canterbury Tales and The Muppet Movie are wonderful pieces of fiction that illustrate so many truths about friendships, human nature, and societal roles. If you have fifty-plus minutes (97 to be exact), use it to watch The Muppet Movie. If you have only 45 minutes, use it to listen to Ancient Literary Dude read the prologue to the Tales in Middle English, the language in which they were written. Both events will take you on your own mindful journey.